


Finally, I Can Show My True Skill

by RoseusJaeger



Series: Osu! Player AU Oneshots/Prompts [3]
Category: Osu! (Video Game), Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Background Relationships, Bits of angst, Dialogue Heavy, Discord shenanigans, Elite Mapper! Viktor, Everyone is too damn salty for their own good, Ex-Pro-Player! Yuuri, Heavy Saltiness, IRL Player/Cameo POV, IRL players mentioned, Language, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Memes, OCCness?, POV Switches, Pining, Slow Burn, VictUuri, Weird Usernames, Yuuri decides to finally git gud, adding tags as I go, osu!Player AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-08-30 08:02:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8525200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseusJaeger/pseuds/RoseusJaeger
Summary: Yuuri is finally playing osu! for the first time since his major failure at the osu! World Cup the year before. He returns to be greeted by top players and ultimately by elite mapper, and his very idol, Viktor Nikiforov. Now that he's returned to the game he once succeeded at, how will he fight his way to the top? As a pro-player or the path of a respected mapper?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Welcome to another fanfiction I'll probably never finish but the idea came to me while I was procrastinating playing/modding maps in osu! itself and I felt like I should start it and see if I can at least write something about it (if no one likes the prologue, I might just abandon it). I have no idea how this will end or if it will but enjoy the journey with me and my terrible grammar (which this fic is mostly edited/beta read by my close friend Jonawaga from osu! and they may be the reason I may edit chapters after already being posted)  
>  I really love osu! and love Yuri!!! on Ice, so I thought I'd combine the two and hopefully make something enjoyable to read even if you're not familiar with the rhythm game this fic is themed around. The main theme of this fic is the development of a long distance relationship through a game, which is something I currently know well. Please enjoy and comment if you'd like. I live for comments.
> 
>  
> 
> Glossary for the entire fic in case ANY of these terms are used:
> 
>  
> 
> osu!: An internet-based rhythm-click game where you click circles to the beat of a song.  
>  PP Farming: The act of playing maps within or above your skill level and rank in order to grind levels and increase your number of “Performance Points” to increase your ranking. Players will activate “mods” in order to make a beat-map/level/song harder and increase the amount of PP earned. Also known as just playing the game but more... cynical, the best word currently to describe it, players often interpret it as playing maps that have inflated star rating and sometimes costs players their enjoyment of the game altogether.  
>  Star Rating: The number from 0 to 10 that determines the number of performance points a map is worth. This system is said to be broken, so there is often arguing about it among mappers and players due to how the mapping standards have changed over the years. It is a topic discussed among mappers on whether a map is considered 'quality' at times. '  
>  DT: “Double Time”. It's a mod on the game that increases the difficulty of a beat-map/level by making the song play, and the notes arrive, twice as fast. It's the most common mod used for PP farming since it awards the most boost to performance points.  
>  Catch the Beat: A game mode in osu! where you must catch falling in-game fruit in time to the beat of a beat-map/level. Usually is abbreviated as “CtB”. It's one of the three game modes where a computer mouse or tablet is not required to play it. Recently, it is also referred to as “osu!catch”.  
> Beatmap Nominator: Someone who has passed the Nominator's Exam and can help choose which maps are ready to be ranked and for the general public to play. There are nominators for every game mode in osu! and also serve as quality control to ensure beat-maps are the highest of quality before they are ranked. Often are just referred to as “BN”.  
>  QAT: “Quality Assurance Team”. People who are apart of this team are a step higher than Beatmap Nominator and are in place to ensure maps that aren't mistakenly nominated if they are not of highest quality.  
> OWC: The “osu! World Cup.” It's the international yearly competition for those who play osu!standard. Naturally, the other game modes of taiko, osu!mania and osu!catch/catch the beat also have their own respective competitions.  
>  RSI: A term for a muscle injury/condition caused by repetitive muscle movement. It is said playing too much osu! can cause this injury due to the repetitive motions of finger clicking on a keyboard, mouse, or whatever instrument used by the player to play.  
>  Jumps and Streams: Jumps are when notes in beat-maps are suddenly farther apart from each other despite their placing in the rhythm of the song, often used to add emphasis to a section of notes/beats or just to make a beatmap 'harder'. Streams are a similar concept but instead are a section of fast paced notes that are clicked rapidly in time like a 'stream.' Hence their name.  
>  “FC”: Full combo, it’s when you don't miss a single note in a song or level.  
>  “Firetruck”: Since swearing is frowned upon in osu! chat, the f-word is replaced with firetruck and is kinda a meme on it's own. It's dumb, but you gotta try and keep the chat younger player-friendly. Private chat, not so much. Or, often people simply just ignore this rule and sometimes moderators don't see it happen.
> 
>  
> 
> Any usernames the characters use are made-up and any IRL players with the same username are purely coincidental unless I say otherwise.

So much can change in a year...

  
Katsuki Yuuri can still remember the OWC of the year before. He had slightly neglected his studies so he could participate. He couldn't sleep the night before because he was anxious. As he steadily warms up his fingers with a stream based beat-map, the clacking of his keyboard clearly revives in his memory. The sound of his tablet pen swiping across his tablet is there as well. He makes it onto Japan's team by what seems like sheer luck. Team Japan accepts him despite having a reputation for chronic nervous missing of notes or simply being unable to follow the rhythm of the song and therefore getting terrible accuracy scores. Nevertheless, he’s on the team and has to participate in the tournament.

  
On the day of the tournament, Yuuri is as anxious as ever. He patiently waits through a few other matches until it’s his turn. Finally, the match of Japan vs. Russia begins. Everything starts out well,since the first couple of beatmaps are for easy warm-up plays and Yuuri's confidence is high. He had proved to himself before that if he tried he could play well.

  
Then, the Russian team switches out another player by the username of 'CookieCat77' (Yuri Plisetsky, one of the edgier players from the Russian team who is known for drama in the community). Yuri’s wrist started to ache, and he is switched for another player. Yuuri’s confidence starts to wane as he notices that the player he is playing against is his idol, 'SilverShadow-' (Viktor Nikiforov, his very idol as a player and mapper). Yuuri swallows a bit, almost sweating as he's now very aware his idol is playing with him. He almost didn't notice the message from 'flamestarium89' (Phichit) but manages to read it before starting to play. It simply says, “You can do it, KatsudonPrince!”

  
The encouragement isn’t enough. Everything swiftly declining for Yuuri. He loses his focus after that and after failing two maps, he’s finally switched out with another Japanese player. Yuuri remembers the tournament commentators on Twitch saying, “There he goes again, KatsudonPrince being the king of missing. Maybe he'll have better luck next match if Japan still somehow wins against Russia!”

  
The Japanese team doesn’t. They lose in a landslide after 'SilverShadow-' started FC-ing every map as well as his teammates being consistent in their playing. Even in the subsequent matches, Yuuri can't stop missing and failing once his confidence in the beginning phase of the OWC is done. The team avoids having him play for the rest of the matches to the third place spot of the OWC.

  
Yuuri tries to not get discouraged, even with the barrage of memes from Reddit about KatsudonPrice's legendary shitmisses, but the thing that makes him quit osu! is when CookieCat77 postes a message on Twitter with a picture of his hand in a brace with the caption, “I can't play anymore for awhile, doctor's orders. At least now that pork cutlet kid can pass my rank now I'm not here to PP farm :)”

  
Yuuri realizes one thing from that tweet. He's not getting any better... no matter how hard he tries. He can't beat any beat-maps above a certain level and he can't DT maps that everyone else above him can. Surely, if CookieCat77 has to DT farm his way to the top and then now he has a wrist injury from playing too much, then there is no way Yuuri himself can get to the top without injuring himself and failing his classes.

  
As he sits at his computer, looking over the picture of Cookie's braced hand/wrist, looking at the email in his inbox from his college that his grades are starting to slip, he simply can't take it anymore. Tears run down his face and his hand hold his head as he sobs at how sad his situation has become. He starts to go through all the Discord servers he's in and leaves them. This doesn't go unnoticed. He gets private messages from friends, some even spamming him and he simply ignores them. Suddenly, he recognizes one of the avatars of someone he wasn't expecting to message him. He sniffles and wipes his eyes and nervously opens the message from SilverShadow-, who he forgets was in one of the same Discord servers he was in. He reads the message in broken Japanese that is likely Google Translated.

SilverShadow-: You okay??? Why you leave chatroom ;-; ?

 

Despite his own disbelief that his idol is messaging him, he realizes it's kinda cute he tried to use Japanese to talk to him and it makes him a little less depressed. He cautiously types back in okay English with honesty.

 

KatsudonPrince: I cant play this game anymore. The game is too hard :(

 

There's a pause to awhile, then he sees the other is typing something. It must be a long message since it's taking so long, and it gives him anxiety wondering what his idol will say next. Minutes pass, then another pause before typing again. The message he gets from him is unexpectedly short and in decent English.

 

SilverShadow-: Oh, pls enjoy game. If not now, then maybe later? I'll be waiting for that, youre a good player <3

 

What almost kills Yuuri in embarrassment is the compliment with the heart emoticon. He frantically types back a quick response and then corrects it.

 

KatsudonPrince: Thnks

 

KatsudonPrince: *Thanks

 

SilverShadow-: Im serious. Pls come back one day, until then you can message me whenever <3

 

KatsudonPrince: Huh???? WHY?

 

SilverShadow-: I had a feeling something was wrong, so I wanna help ;-;

 

Yuuri has never thought this before, but this man is being too cute, and he feels he's dreaming right now or this is a bit awkward but he continues on since, well, he's not wrong about the something wrong. He gets another message then.

 

SilverShadow-: You don't have to tell me whats up but Im here.

 

SilverShadow-: I just realized we've never talked before this, Im a complete stranger ^_^

 

KatsudonPrince: Well... Ill tell you anyway. I saw Cookie's post on Twitter and Im ready to quit because I'm not getting better and I need to focus on school.

 

SilverShadow-: Oh, yeah that makes sense. Relatable. Tbh I might quit too.

 

He stares at that last message in shock for awhile, then hastily types a response.

 

KatsudonPrince: WHY!?!?!

 

SilverShadow-: Im getting bored of playing the game *shrug*

 

KatsudonPrince: … So you will be leaving completely?

 

SilverShadow-: NO, NOT COMPLETELY ;-; I mean Im quitting playing to focus on mapping.

 

He's surprised at that at first and then remembers.

 

KatsudonPrince: You won the a couple mapping contests a few months ago, right?

 

SilverShadow-: Yeah <3 I realize I have more fun making maps then actually playing them :)

 

KatsudonPrince: Oh lol, good luck with that.

 

SilverShadow-: I will. Btw, accept my friend request ;-;

 

He looks and internally screams when he sees the request. He also slams the accept button with his mouse.

 

SilverShadow-: Thank you <3 until you're ready to come back to osu! chat with me for awhile.

 

Yuuri feels his heart grow a bit warm. Despite the emotional turmoil he's suffered the passed couple weeks from his big loss at the OWC, losing one of his favorite rivals because of RSI and his overall feeling of failing when it comes to college as well, he feels a bit of that melt away due to talking to SilverShadow, the player he's looked up to the past 2 and half years playing this circle-clicking game. Which leads him to say next.

 

KatsudonPrince: Hey, my real name is Yuuri if you wanna call me that or just Katsudon is fine. What can I call you?

 

SilverShadow-: Oh, okay <3 I'm Viktor. I hope for us to be friends.

 

KatsudonPrince: You know what? Same.

 

…

 

Yuuri knows this from experience, so much changes in a year. His hand moves almost as gracefully as it used to with a tablet pen. This time, he has an actual pen and is completing his pathetic resume for job searching. Now that's he graduated college and has been a NEET for 3 months, he figures it's time he at least try to make his new degree mean something useful. Once this resume is ready, he can type it up on his new laptop.

  
After he quits osu! the community goes batshit, to say the least, that their favorite player to tease for shitty playing left them. He stops being relevant about a month after he left, people even stop trying to message him. He avoids social media and focuses on school, even when CookieCat77 tries to bait him with some drama on Twitter that only manages to reel in a very salty Phichit and a slightly less salty Viktor since they became friends and felt he needs to defend Yuuri's honor for leaving the game. Bless his friends and them being easily reeled in by Yuri's, as he learned Cookie's name from Viktor, weak trolling bait.

  
Even though Yuri has to take a break from osu!, he still streams other games on Twitch and Yuuri will sometimes have Yuri's streams on in the background while he is doing homework or something just to hear his salty commentary that ranges from Russian to cute, angry and accented English depending on the day or how mad he is playing the game.

  
Although he avoids most social media and left most of the chat servers, he still has a few people on Discord he stays in contact during his time finishing up college. Viktor keeps him the most company during that time with Phichit messaging occasionally about his own new high scores and such. Viktor and him have become friends during that time even if sometimes they would go weeks without contacting each other.  
Mostly, it's been mostly uneventful for him since he left osu!  
He checks his messages to procrastinate his resume writing. He has a message from Viktor waiting for him.

 

SilverShadow-: Yuuri <3 I got a new beatmap ranked.

 

Yuuri smirks a bit and sends his reply.

 

KatsudonPrince: Is it a PP map?

 

SilverShadow-: … Maybe. Youll have to play to find out!

 

KatsudonPrince: Its a PP map, isnt it? Whats the star rating on the highest difficulty?

 

There's some silence on the Russian's end, long enough for Yuuri to set down his phone and then immediately get a notification. With a short sigh, he checks again.

 

SilverShadow-: Um, it's 7.15 stars ;-;

 

KatsudonPrince: You filthy PP mapper, youre the best.

 

SilverShadow-: I know <3 I'm the best and youll play it right?

 

KatsudonPrince: Let me think about it, okay?

 

SilverShadow-: Okay ;-;

 

The next messages switch languages, since the two have started teaching each other their languages because both were not the best in English fluency and it often ends in lazy grammar. Yuuri carefully reads over the text in Viktor's native tongue and responds in Japanese back.

 

SilverShadow-: Seriously, play it offline. I know you still play for fun.

 

KatsudonPrince: I know you know. I can't play like I used to though. I suck.

 

SilverShadow-: You don't suck :( you just got distracted is all.

 

KatsudonPrince: I've been trying to get a job and get my life together. I don't have time for otaku games ;-;

 

SilverShadow-: Oh blah, you're not any fun. I'm going to go browse Reddit for awhile.

 

KatsudonPrince: Alright, have fun.

 

SilverShadow-: Of course, my dear <3

 

Yuuri chokes on his own spit a bit at the flirtiness that is implied by him. Before he can refute the comment, Viktor has already logged off or at least set his status to offline. His cheeks flush a little, still not used to the affection that he's often given by the older man. It's just because he's more confident saying things like that behind a keyboard. It's the same concept as with Yuri and his savageness towards other players on Twitter, right? The internet makes everyone a bit different than how they would act in real life.

 

The voice of his mother calls out to him, ringing through hallway a bit, “Yuuri! Could you please help me for a moment?”

  
“Just a second!” He calls back, hurrying a bit to set up his laptop so it's ready for him to use to type up his almost forgotten paperwork when he returns to his room and then rushes out to help his mother.

 

…

 

She needs his help handling a difficult customer that was being picky with dinner. It didn't take him long to defuse the situation and peace is restored to their onsen. Since it didn't take long, he even gets to relax a bit in the hot spring before returning to his room. He almost end up napping while taking a bath but manages to stay awake. Soon, he gets out and returns to his room in a fluffy robe.

  
Upon returning to his room, he flops into his computer chair. He doesn't really want to work on paperwork. Carefully, he flips open the slender frame of his trusty laptop. It's been with him for a few years since he always upgrades it to keep it up to speed. He stares at his desktop in contemplation as Viktor's request comes back to his mind.  
As much as he should open up a new word document and get started, a sudden urge to procrastinate is heavier than his urge to be productive. He internally apologizes to his family that urges him to succeed and opens up osu! for the first time in a month.

  
The familiar game screen greets him and he opens up a browser tab to the osu! site as well. In the browser tab, he logs in and starts searching through the beat-map listings for ranked beat-maps by SilverShadow-. He gets 9 results of beat-maps made by Viktor himself, not counting the many beat-maps he has guest difficulties on. The one that is the newest is what Yuuri presses to download. It's a weird remix of an anime opening that has been popular but he's not surprised Viktor would map something like that. It's only a minute long and is high in beats per minute so he can spam stream patterns and then add ridiculous jump patterns to increase the star rating exponentially. Since Viktor was a PP farmer before he quit playing to just map, he now maps beat-maps that satisfy the PP farmers. He gets a lot of hate for it but he gets more praise than the earlier.  
Yuuri looks over the eight difficulties and sure enough the highest one is 7.15 stars as Viktor said. He looks over the other specifics of the map and decides it's worth a shot since he's offline, right? After checking to make sure his tablet is responding quickly to his cursor movements, checking his keyboard and checking the mod “No Fail” on just so he doesn't have to worry about missing notes, he starts the beat-map.

  
He taps his fingers against his keyboard to the swift rhythm of the song, he can immediately see why Viktor picked this song. It's fast and sucks you in pretty quick. Yuuri finds himself barely passing the first section of jumps and then there's a short break. Oh no, here comes the streams then.

  
He's not wrong, then the stream patterns arrive and they almost cause some misses before his fingers even out to the rhythm at 218 beats per minute. He almost screws up again when the ¼ mid-stream jumps happen and he finds himself thinking, “What the hell is this? Viktor, please.”

  
The song starts to come to a close and ends with cross screen jumps that Yuuri can't believe he actually playing. He takes a deep breath he seems to be holding and watches as the ranking panel shows his barely managed FC with no slider breaks... only to have a pop up showing he went up 100+ ranks. Wait... wasn't he offline, how?  
He checks his wifi connection and his eyes widen in horror. He just FC'd a PP map and he is online. He forgot to turn his wifi off so he could play in peace without anyone knowing. Now the osu! community is going to know he still plays osu! after spending a year trying to convince the community he quit.

  
No. Oh nononononononononono. This is bad, this is very bad. He spam clicks the escape button and desperately tries to log off before he can get spammed with 'welcome back' messages or so no one notices he's online. His hands go through his hair as he comes to terms with what he's just done.  
Turning off his laptop and then getting up to only plop down on his bed, he buries his face in his pillow. He wraps his blankets around himself for comfort and tries to just block out that is phone is probably gonna blow up with messages soon. He pats his hand around and luckily his phone is nearby. It's close enough he can quickly turn it off and forget his mistakes happened temporarily with a nap.

 

…

 

When he wakes up, it's already night and his room is quite dark. He knows from memory where he set his phone at least but now regrets not taking his glasses off before crashing in bed and can feel their imprint on his face. He lifts his head from his pillow and straightens them out to he can look for his phone and turn it on once it is in his hands.

Once it's powered on and he can see the sudden amount of notifications he missed, he tries not to panic too much and just find the main person who wants to know why he just submitted a new top PP play.

  
That person happens to be the mapper himself with a message saying the following, “Nice job trying to keep a low profile :p Like they always say, once you start playing this game there's no truly leaving it.”

  
The quickest response he can give Viktor before he has to deal with the hellish aftermath of other barrages of messages, including from Yuri himself, is this reply, “I guess so. Rest in peace, my chances at becoming a functioning human in society.”  
From that point on, Yuuri knows for certain he's doomed to return somehow to the pits of circle-clicking hell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well shit, I wasn't expecting the amount of views and kudos this got after I posted. I'm honored. Thank you everyone. I appreciate your comments and critiques as well.  
> Special thanks to Jonawaga again for helping me form the outline for the rest of the fic (yes, I plan to finish something for once) and for beta-reading/heavily editing to maintain quality/make sure I stay in the present tense/make sure this make coherent sense to the reader.
> 
>  
> 
> Any usernames the characters use are made-up and any IRL players with the same username are purely coincidental unless I say otherwise.  
> In this chapter, the following IRL player/community members are featured: JBHyperion (QAT member and professional chair-thrower. I asked nicely and he provided the responses I used in the fic directly, so many thanks to him for moderating the fake chat logs of this chapter), Priti (I mention them but it's because it's in reference to one of their beatmaps), and Kuron (They have a GD mentioned).
> 
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> 
> Extra Glossary Terms that may be necessary for this chapter:
> 
>  
> 
> “Hard Rock”: A mod that makes a beatmap harder and increases star rating so the map awards more performance points. This mod alters the beatmap by making the circles smaller, the approach rate of the objects faster, and the hp bar drain more harsh, so it is easier to fail for missing notes. This is one of the less popular ways to farm performance points but is seen as the 'superior' way to farm for performance points in osu!standard because it requires more raw skill at the game to do compared to Double Time. Players abbreviate it as “HR”. 
> 
>  
> 
> “Hidden”: A mod that removes approach circles and causes the notes to fade away from the screen, so the player must remember where the object is to be able to click it. Some players prefer to play the game strictly with Hidden activated because they hate seeing/getting distracted by approach circles, and this causes arguments in the community over whether Hidden should award more performance points for being activated. Players abbreviate it as “HD”.
> 
>  
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> “Sudden Death”: A mod that causes players to instantly fail if they miss a note. This is a mod for players who have an 'FC or go home' attitude or who simply don't want to make a play that has any misses. Players abbreviate it as “SD”.
> 
>  
> 
> “GD”: Means “Guest Difficulty”. When mappers make maps, they don't always create a full spread of difficulties for their maps. Instead, they have other mappers make the difficulties to fill in the gaps so players of all playing levels can play the song that is mapped.

It has been a week since Yuuri made his unfortunate mistake of not turning off his internet connection before playing osu!  
He still deep loathes himself as he stares at the 400 PP play he made on Viktor's map because he could have gotten a higher score from that play if No-Fail wasn't on. He didn't want the score to submit. It wouldn't have mattered if he was offline.

  
His score was featured in the new post on osu!weekly. He already read the post. and remembers it vividly. He could even quote it, “With a 400 PP play, long-time veteran KatsudonPrince has returned to osu! after a year-long absence. Will he give us more amazing plays to look forward to? For now, watch the replay here!”There is a video of the replay in the article, much to his displeasure. The writers always include a video, but Yuuri feels like he doesn't deserve to be featured when a couple players were able to FC the same song he did but with HR and HD activated. He thinks his 400 pp play is pathetic compared to their 650+ PP plays. If Viktor still played competitively, Yuuri imagines Viktor'd be featured in osu!weekly every week like those players are. Instead, Viktor's the one making the maps these skilled players are farming PP from.

  
Yuuri is pondering this while he is shoveling snow from the entrance of Yuu-topia as his chore. He hoped the task would make him forget his happened if he distracted himself but it did the opposite. Now, he thinks even more about the issue as he scoops clumps of packed snow into a pile. He brushes off snowflakes that have collected on his bangs after a particularly heavy scoop.He heaves one last scoop of snow into the pile before stopping to rest. It has taken him an hour and a half to clear most of the court yard entrance, and the sun is starting to set.

  
Yuuri takes his phone out of his pocket to check his messages. He knows Viktor is awake by now since Viktor has work usually in the mornings but Yuuri is not sure when Viktor gets off his shift. All Yuuri really knows is that Viktor works odd hours as a part-time figure skating coach depending on which student he's working with. It should be late morning or noon where Viktor is, so he might be having lunch.  
Checking his messages, the first one he reads and is the Viktor’'s three messages that are posted throughout his shift. He seems to be in a salty mood by his typing.

 

SilverShadow-: Ugh, I swear if this kid doesn't land this Salchow soon I'm gonna punch a wall. I've shown her five times already how to do it. Help me by ending my life, Katsudon ;-;

 

SilverShadow-: Oh ffs, she lands the Salchow but now my other student is here for his lesson. Just when I thought I was going to getting a break, he now wants me to critique his new routine for an upcoming tournament. TIME TO BECOME HIS WORST NIGHTMARE :)

 

SilverShadow-: Okay, his routine wasn't bad but he needs to picks better songs. Aren't you awake yet??? It's like almost night there, right?

 

KatsudonPrince: I've been awake. I had to shovel snow and it's cold outside.

 

KatsudonPrince: Sounds like a rough day for you ;-;

 

SilverShadow-: Oh Yuuri, you have no idea. Holy shit, I was so busy I could only get post 3 times. Guess who showed up after they left, you get a prize if you guess right <3

 

Yuuri is halfway inside by the time Viktor posted the last message. He slips off his jacket before typing back.

 

KatsudonPrince: Who?

 

SilverShadow-: CookieCat *rolls eyes*

 

KatsudonPrince: Oh shit, I thought he refused to have you as his coach before though. Why is he back at the rink?

 

SilverShadow-: He wants me to choreograph him a new routine since he placed third at the competition he was recently in. Maybe if he wasn't streaming on Twitch all the goddamn time and actually devoted himself to practice he wouldn't be so shitty at skating :^)

 

Yuuri snorts in amusement at that. It makes sense thought since Yuri has been streaming a lot more than he should be.

 

KatsudonPrince: What about his wrist? Is that getting in his way of skating?

 

SilverShadow-: Surprisingly, not really. He's been using costumes with gloves and armlets to cover up his soft brace and he never complains about any pain anymore. I think his RSI is mostly gone but he's gotten too used to wearing the brace so much that it's habit now. I've seen his flub a few jumps and he doesn't seem to be in pain when catching himself with the hand his injured wrist is on.

 

SilverShadow-: TL;DR, the little diva is fine and still talking shit about you on Twitter :)

 

KatsudonPrince: What did I do to get on his bad side? Seriously, he acts like I insulted his mother or something.

 

SilverShadow-: Idk, maybe you did :^) you two were pretty hostile before what happened at the OWC.

 

Yuuri sighs as he flops on his bed. Of course, Viktor just has to remind him about the OWC like he doesn't remember it every time he plays at least once.

 

KatsudonPrince: Yeah, I didn't start that though. I don't know why he decided to start targeting me but I wasn't going to just let him keep harassing me.

 

SilverShadow-: He still calls you the KatsudonCuck in the Russian server when he refers to you.

 

KatsudonPrince: Ngl, that is a pretty clever nickname. I'm not even mad.

 

SilverShadow-: I am. I hate it. You're not a cuck and it just bothers me.

 

He blushes a bit at that, not expecting that when he should. He's his friend, of course he'd be mad if his friend is being harassed for no reason. No reason to let it get him all embarrassed.

 

KatsudonPrince: As cute as that is, you shouldn't take Cookie seriously. He's like 15 or something and for some reason at that age we're all balls of angst and rage at the world.

 

SilverShadow-: I'm not cute >w< but yeah, that's true because I remember when I was 17. I felt like the world was against me and no one understood me.

 

SilverShadow-: I had long hair then, too.

 

KatsudonPrince: Don't you still have long hair? The last selfie you sent me a month ago had long hair.

 

SilverShadow-: Um... I'm not ready to talk about it yet because it's embarrassing why I did it. I chopped it all off. Don't worry about it though.

 

Yuuri furrows his brow at that. This is the man that told him the story about how he got drunk, danced on a table at bar and then fell and broke 3 fingers trying to keep himself from falling on his ass. How could this be more embarrassing? More importantly, he is more curious what he looks like now with shorter hair. Before he can pry further, Viktor cuts him off with another message that makes him forget the previous topic.

 

SilverShadow-: Are you gonna play osu! today? I'm home now but I'm too lazy to work on the GDs I need to finish ;-;

 

KatsudonPrince: I did plan on it but not online. Why do you ask?

 

SilverShadow-: I feel like spectating you play for awhile. I need inspiration for these GDs on how to make them give more PP.

 

KatsudonPrince: … How is watching me play gonna give you inspiration on something that is reliant your own creativity.

 

It takes a few minutes for Viktor to respond, as if he's trying to be careful with his answer. Yuuri knows damn well why he's being careful. Viktor knows if he brings up Yuuri's shitmissing that it's just going to piss him off.

 

SilverShadow-: Well, studying another player's playing style will give me ideas on how to map without relying on my own playing style.

 

KatsudonPrince: Hm... I guess I'll accept that answer. I'll play online for once.

 

SilverShadow-: I know you saw you were featured in osu!weekly...

 

KatsudonPrince: Yeah, why does it matter? It was a garbage play anyway.

 

SilverShadow-: You FC'd the map. It was not a garbage play. You even FC'd it on your FIRST TIME playing it. Even I would have a hard time FCing that map on the first try and I made that map.

 

KatsudonPrince: Your point?

 

KatsudonPrince: I don't even WANT to play competitively anymore. I quit the game in the first place because I suck and I'm not getting any better.

 

He realizes how irritated that sounded and gets tense as he stares at his phone in regret. Shit, he didn't want to sound that way. Before he can even type an apology, Viktor's responses stun him.

 

SilverShadow-: That is the stupidest thing you've ever said to me tbh. How can you think you suck? I can understand not wanting to play competitively anymore but Yuuri please. You couldn't even pass maps above 6.5 stars when you played in the OWC.

 

SilverShadow-: and now you're able to FC 7 star maps. I know you lack confidence but I didn't know it's to this degree.

 

SilverShadow-: Also, you don't need to start playing osu! Again but if you really are coming back. I want to help you get your confidence back, Yuuri. I want to see the KatsudonPrince from a year ago that played maps on No Fail without a care and didn't care about missing notes.

 

Yuuri re-reads those messages a few times, shocked by how serious he is. He swallows a bit, his throat feeling dry as he shakily types back.

 

KatsudonPrince: Calm down.

 

KatsudonPrince: I didn't know that was gonna make you mad, I'm sorry. Please calm down.

 

KatsudonPrince: You realize I'm not much different that I was back then right? I'm still the player that you saw at the OWC. I've never had confidence and I rely on luck. I broke down and I still do if I let the stress get to me. I won't lie that you are right in one part. I must have gotten better somewhat if I can FC higher maps.

 

SilverShadow-: Exactly! You made progress, don't forget that!

 

Even though that makes Yuuri smile, he can't help point out something else to poke fun at Viktor.

 

KatsudonPrince: Well, one reason I might appear to be getting better is because mappers these days seem to only map for PP. Everything is just jump and stream spam with no rhythmic sense :^)

 

SilverShadow-: … My map gives you PP and this is how you treat me? You're so mean to me ;-; I'm going to go sit in my bathtub fully clothed, cry and drink away my sadness. You reminded me how pathetic my life is. I retired from skating because I got addicted to a stupid circle-clicking game. I COULD HAVE BEEN A CHAMPION BUT I WASTED IT ALL JUST TO HAVE PEOPLE INSULT ME ON THE INTERNET FOR MAKING SHITTY MAPS.

 

KatsudonPrince: You're an alcoholic and a drama king. Please turn off your Caps Lock, damn.

 

SilverShadow-: YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I AM ;-; AND NO I WILL NOT CALM DOWN ON THE ALL CAPS WHEN MY LIFE IS IN SHAMBLES.

 

…

 

Yuuri manages to survive Viktor's hissy fit long enough to have his laptop turned on and starts up the game. He clears off his desk and finds his tablet and tablet pen under some papers. He sighs in relief because he doesn't want to play with his computer mouse. He has the Discord app open on this laptop and messages Viktor.

KatsudonPrince: I'm logged in now. You ready to spectate me or what?

 

SilverShadow-: Hold up, re-adjusting my laptop so it doesn't fall out of my lap.

 

KatsudonPrince: … Did you seriously set up your laptop in the bathtub?

 

SilverShadow-: I still feel like drinking my sadness away where I am, don't judge me.

  
KatsudonPrince: You're so weird.

 

Yuuri hears a knock on his bedroom door. He looks up from his laptop, and blinks in confusion and says, “Come in.”

  
His sister, Mari, appear in the doorway, and she looks as if she forgot what she was going to say when she sees his laptop.“Um... You're playing that game again? I thought you quit.” She crosses her arms as she speaks with concern across her face.

  
Yuuri stares at his keyboard in shame. His family knows that he was addicted to the game to the point it interfered with his school work. The fact he's playing it again when he should be job searching is shameful and he wants to curl into a ball since he's been caught.Instead of that, he responds in a soft tone, “Yeah, I'm playing again... Could you not tell mom and dad? I'm still looking for a job but I just needed a break, okay?”

  
They both stare at each other for a few moments before she looks away and sighs, “Fine. You want me to bring you dinner here like the old times, too?”

Yuuri relaxes with a faint smile, “I would love that.”

  
Mari smirks and uncrosses her arms, “Have fun while you can.” She leaves, closing the door behind her.  
Yuuri briefly gazes around his room and realizes how dark it is inside now that the sun has set. He switches on his desk lamp to get rid of this problem before turning back to his laptop to find a message from Phichit on the game client, even though Yuuri normally messages him in Discord. He opens the tab to read his message.

 

flamestarium89: Omg Yuuri, check out #ctb right now. SilverShadow and CookieCat are bantering and it's great. Very popcorn worthy :^)

 

He raises his eyebrows, intrigued. Sure enough, he opens up the chat channels and goes to #ctb to find the following conversation happening.

 

CookieCat77: So the KatsudonCuck is ignoring me in Discord, why is that Silver?

 

SilverShadow-: Why would he pay attention to an angsty teenage edgelord?

 

CookieCat77: Fair point.

 

SilverShadow-: Also, stop calling him that. He's not a cuck.

 

CookieCat77: Why the firetruck do you care if I call him a cuck? I can call him whatever I want.

 

flamestarium89: I think it's that you're using a term that doesn't apply to Katsudon correctly and it triggers us all because you look like an idiot using the term wrong.

 

CookieCat77: I will use the English language however I wish, stfu Flame. Go back to #thai and meme there.

 

flamestarium89: I'm a ctb player, this is my territory, circle-clicker :) How about you go back to #russian and meme there.

 

CookieCat77: Naw, I already spammed too much there earlier and got silenced for 10 minutes.

 

SilverShadow-: Maybe you can stfu, ever thought of that for once? Then maybe you wouldn't get silenced :^) BETTER YET, stfu and go practice your choreography for tomorrow morning.

 

CookieCat77: Never :^) firetruck that, I'm too tired.

 

KatsudonPrince: Why are there std players chatting in the ctb channel in the first place? What did I miss before Cookie called me a cuck?

 

CookieCat77: oh it's you, the shitmiss king.

 

KatsudonPrince: Eat a brick.

 

SilverShadow-: ^ This.

 

Flamestarium89: @KatsudonPrince , Cookie was complaining about kick sliders in Silver's new map and Silver egged him on by saying he needed to git gud if he wanted to surpass you.

 

CookieCat77: Which that is pure garbage since I'm already better than Katsudon.

 

KatsudonPrince: FC Kuron's Insane on that Maffalda map with DT and HR and say that to my face again. If I can do that then surely you can too. OH WAIT, you can't play because your wrist decided to be spaghetti when you needed it the most, HA.

 

CookieCat77: … Rude.

 

SilverShadow-: Apply water to burned area, Cookie :^)

 

flamestarium89: Savage, I could feel that burn through my computer. Wew.

 

CookieCat77: *plays sad MLG airhorns as I stare at my wrist* Ngl, you're not wrong about the having spaghetti wrist.

 

CookieCat77: Who knows, Katsudon? I might just start playing again tonight.

 

SilverShadow-: Please don't.

 

Yuuri rolls his eyes at the chat now after all the transpired. He hopes a chat moderator comes by and ends this cancerous chat so he can focus on playing. He can't deal with CookieCat77 for very long before he feels mentally and physically drained. Sure enough, his prayers are answered when a QAT shows up.

 

JBHyperion: the fuck is going on here?

 

SilverShadow-: OH it's JBH <3 Rank my maps

 

flamestarium89: Hi JBH!

 

CookieCat77: Ayyy, the chair-thrower is back.

Yuuri stays quiet in chat because he's been silenced by JBHyperion before for spamming memes in chat and now gets nervous when he shows up.

 

JBHyperion: @Silvershadow- How does a nuke icon sound, it's all a shitmap is worth (: also howdy people o/

 

SilverShadow-: ;-; Why you do this to me, baby.

 

CookieCat77: HA, gaayyyyyyy

 

flamestarium89: JBH, Cookie is being a jerk to Katsudon again pls help.

 

CookieCat77: I can't help it if KatsudonPrince was born a piece of garbage.

 

SilverShadow-: you're just salty he can no mod FC 7 star maps and you're in RSI hell.

 

CookieCat77: stfu Silver, nobody likes you. Also, Halozy is shit :^)

 

Oh no, Yuuri can already sense a shit storm now that Cookie has insulted JBH's favorite artist. He wishes he had popcorn right now.

 

JBHyperion: @CookieCat please play nicely with others, and sort out your appalling music taste whilst you're at it, nobody shits on Halozy.

 

JBHyperion: And according to your profile picture, could you refrain from having shit taste in waifus as well? Maki is the worst girl in Love Live.

 

KatsudonPrince: You just got roasted, mate.

 

SilverShadow-: Mfw Maki is my waifu, too

 

KatsudonPrince: Why do Russians have the worst taste in anime waifus? Also, Silver get your ass in spectator chat and stop feeding Cookie the saltiness he desires. Same with you JBH, he's just baiting you.

 

CookieCat77: It's not that my tastes are shit, its that the rest of you have shit taste :^) anyone who likes Halozy is confirmed Touhou trash and can please exit themselves from mapping.

 

SilverShadow-: … Can't tell if that's a jab at me or JBH and I don't see how this has anything to do with the previous conversation.

 

CookieCat77: Both and it doesn't :)

 

JBHyperion: You can win an argument against a smart person, but you will never win an argument against a stupid one. So I'm done talking, please move along before you get your second silence for the day Cookie.

 

CookieCat77: Fine, bye.

 

SilverShadow-: Good riddance.

There's a knock at Yuuri's door again. His sister has reappeared with katsudon, “Here you go, hot and ready.”

  
All of Yuuri's irritation from the previous conversation melts away as he's handed his favorite meal, “Thanks sis.”

  
“No problem.” She smiles and leaves him be. He claps his hands together and says his thanks before digging into his dish. He can see he has a private message from Viktor now. He holds the bowl with one arm and uses his other to click open the chat tab.

 

SilverShadow-: Okay, I'm done being salty with Cookie. He was insulting my map and then starting talking about you and I don't have the willpower to ignore him ;-;

 

Yuuri has to use one hand to awkwardly type back in Japanese.

 

KatsudonPrince: It okay, I'm eating right now.

 

SilverShadow-: Oh okay, I'll be ready to watch you play when you're done eating.

 

Yuuri semi-smiles though a mouthful of the katsudon. He gets to eat a few bites before he puts the bowl down. He knows that his food is going to get cold, but he's already kept Viktor waiting long enough to see him play, and it would be disappointing not to fulfill his promise.

  
Yuuri browses through the beatmaps he has downloaded. He doesn't have most of the newer, more popular maps unless it's one of Viktor's maps. He decides to play one of Viktor's maps until his fingers are warmed up enough to play something more substantial. The map he picks is only 5.67 stars on it's second highest difficulty, but it will warm up his fingers for more complicated maps. Also, it's one of Viktor's maps, so it's easy to farm PP if he FCs it.

  
The song is called “Critical Crystal” by Seiryu. He remembers Viktor mapped it because he apparently hates how Priti mapped the song and decided to map it himself. Yuuri doesn't really care because he likes both mapsets of the song.

  
Yuuri presses play and the beatmap starts. Immediately, he's faced with fast paced notes and kick sliders. The approach rate is low enough that he can read the appearing sliders quite easily and plays through the pattern with ease. When the stacking patterns appear, Yuuri regrets thinking the map is going to be easy to FC. The stacks appear so suddenly after easy, fluent kick sliders that Yuuri has trouble judging the distances between the stacks of two notes also due to a sudden change of rhythm emphasis. What the hell, Viktor? Stick to one rhythm pattern and don't just decide you hate following that rhythm the next time!

  
Luckily, Yuuri manages not to break his combo and gets through the patterns with only a slight loss of accuracy from badly timed clicks. After that hellish pattern, the song calms down back to flowing sliders. This puts Yuuri at ease since before the OWC incident, he was not able to pass through stacked patterns like that without missing at least one note or without getting a slider break. The song leads to the transition with a moderate length spinner. Yuuri knows there are going to be streams after the spinner and takes a breath to calm himself.

  
A barrage of notes appear on the screen in accordance to the rhythm of the song along with varying slider patterns for extra emphasis on the main beats. For once Viktor actually follows the rhythm of the song in his mapping but only if it means he can up the star rating by doing so. How typical of him. Yuuri is grateful that his fingers have always had high stamina otherwise he wouldn't be able to get through these streams as easily as he is.  
The map gets easier after the streams since the song calms down. As the last few jump patterns leave him unimpressed, he FCs the map. Since he's playing the map online for once, he watches the score submit and see he manages to go up a couple ranks. With a bit of conflicted pride, he opens up the spectator chat to see Viktor's commentary that he made while he was playing.

 

SilverShadow-: Wew, get ready for the streams.

 

SilverShadow-: Oh my god, you FC'd. I'm so proud of you ;-;

 

KatsudonPrince: I should try to HR FC this map later, shouldn't I?

 

SilverShadow-: I'd even be prouder if you do that <3

 

That makes Yuuri feel giddy on the inside that his idol is so happy for him. Although, he feels like he should also tell him what he thought about the map since some troubling thoughts came to mind while he played the map.

 

KatsudonPrince: I know this is one of your older maps from this year but those stacks were cancerous, Viktor. How did you get a BN to say “Hm, this should be ranked!” ?

 

SilverShadow-: It's called I modded at least 5 of their maps before they would even check my map and then they must have overlooked it.

 

KatsudonPrince: You got not just one but two BNs to decide your map is ready for rank but they obviously ignore the jump spam cancer, too?

 

SilverShadow-: Why are you so savage today? ;-; Yes, I got two BNs to say the jump spam is rankable when it should have been disqualified for blatant PP mapping.

 

KatsudonPrince: So you admit your own map is shit because it can subjectively be disqualified?

 

SilverShadow-: … Yes, I'm not a creative mapper but I can at least make something that is somewhat enjoyable, right?

 

KatsudonPrince: At least you realize the problems with your mapping, right? That's why you wanted me to play some of your maps tonight. You wanted to me to help you figure that out, didn't you?

 

SilverShadow-: … You're right, Yuuri. You didn't answer my question though. Was it enjoyable to play?

 

He's about to type something reassuring but stops himself. This isn't the time to just brush off the issues and tells Viktor what everything is alright. If he tells him everything about his mapping is fine then he ignores the obvious abuse of patterns that give PP then Viktor will learn nothing from this. If Yuuri was doing something wrong, especially when it comes to playing, Viktor would not hold back his criticisms. He's told Yuuri months ago even after he quit the game what he thought of his playing style and told him what he is doing wrong to cause the amount of shitmissing he manages to do when he gets nervous. He still misses when he's nervous but he's sure the reason why he 'improved' was because of the advice the man had given him. Yuuri sighs as he picks up his bowl of almost forgotten katsudon and contemplates a proper response to give Viktor. His bowl is empty when he finally types his response.

 

KatsudonPrince: That's not easy to answer. It would be yes and no.

 

SilverShadow-: Explain.

 

KatsusonPrince: Yes, it was fun because I was able to enjoy it without putting much effort into playing it and it's a no because the mapping didn't feel like I was forming a song as I was playing. Most of the patterns didn't feel like they fit the song rhythmically when osu! is supposed to be a rhythm game.

 

KatsudonPrince: As I said before, it's the fact you mapped this map for PP that it also killed the enjoyment I could have gotten from this map.

 

It's quiet in chat for minutes on end and Yuuri can feel his stomach tighten with anxiety. Did he upset him? He wouldn't blame Viktor for being upset if he is since he basically told him he's been mapping wrong for the past ten to eleven months he started mapping seriously. He end up biting his lip due to the stress of waiting for a reply. He fucked up, didn't he? Just as he's about to send another message, Viktor responds.

 

SilverShadow-: Considering most of my maps are similar here to Critical Crystal, even the newer ones, maybe I need to relearn how to map?

 

SilverShadow-: What I mean by that is I need to learn how to mimic the song instead of forcing a pattern onto a song. Does that make sense?

 

KatsudonPrince: Yeah, that makes sense.

 

SilverShadow-: How am I supposed to do that?

 

KatsudonPrince: I don't know, I don't know how to map to be able to do that myself.

 

SilverShadow-: … I have an idea. It's so crazy it might work <3

 

With a great deal of confusion, Yuuri fumbles a bit typing his reply.

 

KatsudonPrince: What would that be???

 

SilverShadow-: How about I teach you how to map? If I'm teaching someone else how to not make shitty maps then maybe I'll stop making them because I'll want to set a good example for my student :D

 

KatsudonPrince: ...What if I don't want to learn how to map?

  
SilverShadow-: I'm going under the assumption you'll say yes because what do you have to lose by agreeing to let me teach you?

 

KatsudonPrince: I thought you knew I didn't want to get competitive in this game.

 

SilverShadow-: Mapping has nothing to do with competition but you do have an advantage to learning since you just proved to me you have what it takes to be able to judge the quality of a map to some degree and you can test play higher level maps. You should be fine.

 

The more Yuuri considers it, the more he actually is warming up to the idea of mapping. His idol teaching him how to make beatmaps? That's nothing he thought would be possible, especially since both of them technically 'quit' the game. Possibly, this is all meant to happen. They both keep playing the game offline despite their public announcements long ago. The difference is that Viktor could never truly leave the game and became a mapper, and Yuuri only is back only because Viktor finally got him back after what was probably a year-long mission that has finally been accomplished. Viktor is not as subtle as he thinks he is. It's pretty obvious he has been trying to get Yuuri to play osu! online for ages.

  
Yuuri believes this is all somehow fate if he could even believe such a thing existed. He is meant to stay in this game whether it be by coincidence or not.

 

KatsudonPrince: So, when can you start teaching me? Not tonight, it's getting late and I should go to bed soon.

 

SilverShadow-: How about tomorrow? We can start teaching each other then <3

 

KatsudonPrince: Alright.

 

KatsudonPrince: You have any maps you want me to play before I sleep?

 

SilverShadow-: Play Freedom Dive :^)

 

KatsudonPrince: You are evil, fine ;-;

 

*KatsudonPrince is playing “xi – FREEDOM DiVE [FOUR DIMENSIONS]” -NoFail

 

…

 

Meanwhile, a certain Thai player is trying to FC 4.5 star maps in CTB in hope of gaining PP while the one spectator he has casually insults his playing in spectator chat. Phichit sighs as he fails the map for the 34th time in a row in the same spot. He keeps missing the same note and of course his spectator reminds him of that when he checks the chat tab.

 

Cookiecat77: How the fuck do you keep missing that note? I thought you were good at this game.

 

Phichit shakes his head a bit at the comment, used to the harshness the Russian teen always lashes out with.

 

Flamestarium89: I never said I was good at this game :'( fuuk u

 

CookieCat77: Gladly :^)))

 

flamestarium89: Wait, nevermind, I forgot I'm not a pedophile :^)))

 

CookieCat77: Damn, almost got you.

 

flamestarium89: You need better bait than that.

 

CookieCat77: You're right, fuck.

 

The two have been friends for six months now. Since Cookie doesn't play anymore, he watches Phichit fail at Catch the Beat for hours and memes in the chat channels since he apparently has nothing better to do once he gets home from skating practice. Phichit doesn't mind having him as a friend since he's (usually) nice enough despite his tendency to be crude and aggravating.

  
Phichit retries the map again and when he fails, he groans and types in chat.

 

flamestarium89: Fuck this map, I'm gonna play something else.

 

CookieCat77: How about I play something and you watch me?

 

Wait, what?

 

flamestarium89: What? Don't you have wrist issues?

 

CookieCat77: My wrist doesn't hurt anymore. It's been awhile but I think I want to take up Katsudon's challenge from earlier so I can make his ass look stupid when I HR DT FC that map.

 

flamestarium89: Well, I guess if you're confident it's not gonna harm you any, lets do this shit :D

 

As he says that, Cookie stops spectating and Phichit switches so he's spectating Cookie. Soon, the spectator tab appears with the map that Yuuri told Cookie to FC earlier in #ctb.

 

*CookieCat77 is playing “Maffalda – pensamento tipico de esquerda caviar [Kuron's Insane]” + HR

 

CookieCat77: Lets try this with HR first to see how much I suck after not playing for a year.

 

flamestarium89: Good luck!

 

The first part of the map is lower in beats per minute compared to the rest of the map, so only occasional notes appear on the screen with light jumps. It's something even Phichit thinks he could do if he played standard anymore.

  
The BPM changes and gets faster. Now, sliders and larger jumps begin to appear and now Phichit can see why this map is considered difficult now. He watches has Cookie manages to land the 1/4th reverse slider streams and realizes that Cookie hasn't lost any of his skill somehow from a year ago. In amazement, he types encouragement into the spectator chat that he knows won't get seen until Cookie completes the map.

 

flamestarium89: You can do it!

 

His excitement rises as the jumps get progressively larger, the BPM increases and Cookie shows no sign of missing anything. Even his accuracy is higher than 99 percent and he passes the cross screen jumps as if they were nothing at all. The only part he flubs is last note. He doesn't miss it but he loses some accuracy for clicking it a bit late than he should have and then passes the final spinner with a decent score. Cookie sends his reply after the play.

 

CookieCat77: Fuck that last note.

 

flamestarium89: Congratz on the FC!

 

CookieCat77: Thanks, that was actually pretty easy. DT should be a breeze. Watch me FC it my first try.

 

flamestarium89: owo You can do it!!!

 

*CookieCat77 is playing “Maffalda – pensamento tipico de esquerda caviar [Kuron's Insane]” + DT +HR

 

Phichit becomes aware as Cookie starts to play again that he's not the only spectator of what is happening right now. He notices the list of spectators has grown to three. The two newcomers, GoToChurch (Leo de la Iglesia) and -Infernium (Guang-Hong Ji) quietly watch for now.

  
When Cookie says DT is going to be easy, he isn't kidding as he proceeds to play exactly as well as he did with just HR checked. Phichit almost finds himself cheering out loud, he keeps quiet to not disturb his housemates, when Cookie lands all the difficult patterns again at two times the speed they were before. The one thing that doesn't change is the almost miss on the last note again, but Cookie FCs the map again but with an even greater score because of DT. While Phichit is staring at the score screen in shock for a minute, the spectator chat is lively.

 

GoToChurch: Omfg, Cookie FC'd

 

-Infernium: Congratz Cookie!!!

 

CookieCat77: KatsudonCuck is a trash player and this play if my proof of it.

 

CookieCat77: hey, how many retries did it take Katsudon to FC this map?

 

Liondance: I think, 97 retries? I think that was before the OWC though. I wouldn't know how well he'd do on it now but good job.

 

CookieCat77: Kek, and it only takes me 1 try to FC.  
-Infernium: Welcome back, Cookie. We missed your playing after so long OwO

 

GoToChurch: Try not to fuck up your wrist again :^)

 

CookieCat77: Stfu Jesus freak, more like I need to try not to let this game consume me again when I have skating competitions to prepare for.

 

CookieCat77: The only reason I played today is because I needed to prove a point to the Japanese bastard after he insulted me today.

 

-Infernium: Hyped for this to appear in osu!weekly

 

CookieCat77: FUCK, I keep forgetting I'm considered a retired pro-player.

 

flamestarium89: Don't forget, Cookie. You're here with us forever :^)

 

CookieCat77: … Shit, you're right. I guess I'm back playing this game again.

 

CookieCat77: I guess I can finally show my true skill, huh?

 

flamestarium89: Yeah!

 

With that score submitted, the osu! community knows that another pro-player has returned from a year long absence with the intent to surpass his rival.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's chapter 3 after a long wait.This is also the longest chapter I've ever written for a fanfiction. If anyone gets lost, feel free to leave a comment and I'll help.  
> I got distracted by osu! related stuff and I wanted to finish the YOI anime before working fully on the outline for this fic. I also had my beta reader, Jonawaga, teaching me some tips on how to improve my writing.  
> Thank you for the kudos and encouraging comments. They remind me that there's always someone who enjoys what I write. If you want, you can poke me on Tumblr for fanfic updates and such since I don't mind: http://roseus-jaeger.tumblr.com/  
> Also, thank you to SoruMegane13 for the fanart related to this fic. I've never had someone make fanart for my fanfiction before and it definitely made my day to see. Here's the link to their art: http://sorumegane13.tumblr.com/post/153820619800/based-on-an-au-that-roseus-jaeger-did-say-hello
> 
> Extra Glossary Terms Relevant to this Chapter:
> 
> “BNG”: This term refers to the “Beatmap Nomination Group”. The people who make up this group are Beatmap Nominators (BNs) and are a step below QAT. The members of this group decide which beatmaps are ready for ranking based on quality.
> 
> “BN Circlejerk”: This derogatory term is used to describe the act of beatmap nominators who only rank their friends or other nominators’ beatmaps and excluding any others besides those groups. This term has been so abused by players that it's meaning can also just simply refer to the act of another BN nominating another BN's map for rank, which by itself wouldn't be a problem unless the BN exclusively looks at fellow nominator maps and not anyone else. Some members of the BNG use the term jokingly to poke fun at one another.
> 
> “Iconing”: This is the action of a BN placing an icon the the forum thread post of a beatmap. The three icons that are commonly placed are “bubbles”, “popped-bubble”, and “heart/flame”. “Bubble” means the beatmap should be ready for rank/approval and needs a “heart/flame” icon for ranking. “Popped-bubble” means another BN considers this map to still have issues that need resolved before it is ready for rank/approval. Other icons include “broken heart”, which QATs use when they disqualify a map if they do not agree with the BN's decision to rank the map, and “nuke”, when a QAT or staff has decided a beatmap should be deleted.
> 
> “osu!supporter”: To support the game, players can donate money in exchange for a supporter tag on their profile. The tag lasts depending on how much the player has donated. This tag allows players to access special features such as faster beatmap downloads. It's possible to gift other players osu!supporter tags.
> 
> Any usernames the characters use are made-up and any IRL players with the same username are purely coincidental unless I say otherwise. IRL Players mentioned in this chapter: Ascendance (osu! standard and CtB mapper, currently an ex-beatmap nominator and expert memer. I would like to thank them for agreeing to a cameo/easy plot device <3) pishifat, Blue Dragon and Xexxar (They're mentioned but not cameo'd. I personally like all their mapping)

If there's one regret that Yuri Plisetsky has, it would be staying awake until 3 am streaming on Twitch. After FCing that beatmap, he decided it would be a good idea to stream himself playing osu! for awhile and show people he can play again. He's functioning on three to four hours of sleep and is at the ice rink for his early morning coaching session with Viktor Nikiforov, his part-time coach and fellow circle-clicking trash. Except, Viktor hasn't arrived at the rink yet and Yuri's been skating in slow circles while occasionally checking his Discord messages because he's too tired to start practicing jumps.

  
Yuri scrolls through his messages. His username is apparently highlighted in Phichit's new Discord server called 'Circles and Memes'. He opens the server and sees that Phichit highlighted everyone in the server in the #announcements channel. He reads what it says.

 

flamestarium89: @everyone, I'm about to invite some more people into this new server and I'd like your input on who I should invite. As you all know, the old server went dead because of hacking so we have to start from scratch. If you have someone in mind, highlight me in the #general tab with the username of the person you want invited <3

Yuri begins typing in the #general channel and lists off who he think should join. He leans against the rink wall as he types.

CookieCat77: @flamestarium89, you should invite back GoToChurch and -Infernium first and then invite SnowDay60, nightwalk and SilverShadow-

flamestarium89: Wait, who are Snowday and nightwalk?

CookieCat77: Mila is Snowday. She's an ex-teammate of mine from the OWC.

Cookiecat77: How the fuck do you not know who nightwalk is? It's Otabek, the #1 ranked in Kazakhstan for CtB. He's a BN, how the actual fuck do you not know who he is when you're circle-catching garbage like him???

flamestarium89: First off, I already sent invites to the first two suggestions and they have yet to respond. Second, now I remember Mila and Otabek. It just slipped my mind, okay ;-; ? Third, lol you're wanting me to invite a mapping legend? Okay.

CookieCat77: “Mapping legend” You trying to make me laugh? Viktor wishes he was a mapping legend.

flamestarium89: Okay, I sent the new invites out and now we just wait for them to accept. Can I post the rules of the server already in the #rules tab? I already created all the chat tabs again so we should be prepared for when we invite everyone again.

CookieCat77: Sure, post them. I'll read them and critique them while I'm waiting for SilverShit- to show up to practice.

flamestarium89: “SilverShit-” I'M DEAD X'D

flamestarium89: Okay, I just need to copy-paste them and send more invites to the old members of the server. Hold up.

Yuri waits, knowing the rules for the old server were pretty extensive due to the fact nobody apparently knows how to be decent human beings without being told on the internet. While he waits for Phichit, he stretches his arms a bit and then looks around the rink to see if Viktor is there yet. The rink is vacant besides himself. Where the hell is Viktor?

  
His phones vibrates, and he sees it's Phichit posting the rules of the server in the #rules tab.

flamestarium89: Hey @everyone! In order to maintain harmony in the server and so everyone has a good time, please keep your topics organized by the name of the channel tab. Before I elaborate, here are the general rules for most of the channel tabs. Breaking the rules will result in silences and, at worst, bans.  
Please respect each other in all tabs except for #the-salt-room, #the-triggering, and #shitposting. I would like everyone to please not be bullies and give people a place to be themselves.  
Please stay on topic in each channel. For example, if you're posting in #ice-skating then you need to be talking about ice skating. It doesn't make sense to be posting pictures of food there or talking about something else than the original topic. Channel admins will try to keep everyone on topic.  
Do not yell too much in voice chat. No one needs to go deaf from someone else screaming, lol.  
Please don't post illegal material in all channels. Specifically, don't post questionable material in #nsfw and #shitposting.  
Do not share material from the 'secret channels' in the general channels without permission. They're called secret channels for a reason and you will get kicked from that channels if you break the rules.  
If you are 18 and older and would like to be added to #nsfw, highlight an admin with the message '!pervert'.

flamestarium89: The following are the general channels and their descriptions:  
#arrival – Introduce yourself! Tell us your name, osu! game mode and why you're here.  
#general – Talk about your day and make small talk with everyone. This is the default chat for everything that doesn't have its own topic thread.  
#show-off-your-scores – Post your best scores from osu! here and brag/complain.  
#bn-circlejerk – Post beatmaps you want modded. If the BNs feel nice, they might check your map.  
#ice-skating – Post about ice skating here since we have a couple members who are known ice skaters.  
#selfies – Post your selfies/seek attention for your beautiful faces here.  
#food-porn – Post pictures of food and recipes here. This used to be the holy land of pork cutlet bowls before KatsudonPrince left ;-;  
#weeb-central – Post anime, manga and all Japan related stuff here.  
#shitposting – This is the channel for non-logical discussions and memes, almost any topic goes here even if it already has a pre-existing chat tab. This is basically where to go if you wanna lose your remaining brain cells.  
#nsfw – It's exactly what you think it is. Post porn here but please be mindful that you will probably be kinkshamed if you share weird shit here. You must be invited to be in this channel.  
#the-salt-room – The first rule of the server doesn't apply here. If you hate someone with a passion, you can insult them to your heart's desire here. If you don't wanna see this channel, mute it.  
#the-triggering – This is a game channel. The goal of this game is to try to trigger someone. If you're successful, you get a point. If you're unsuccessful, you lose a point. If you want to be excluded from this game, you can mute the channel or ask an admin to set it so people cannot highlight you in the channel.  
'Secret Channels' – These do not appear unless another member of the group invites you to these channels. If you are invited to one of these channels, you will be given rules from the admin in charge of that channel as well as the topic of the channel.

flamestarium89: More rules or channels will be added if issues occur, please enjoy your stay!

Yuri reads over the entire thing and thinks it looks decent. He is concerned why Phichit forgot or deleted some of the more specific channels from the older server. He types in #general what he thinks of the rules.

CookieCat77: Looks good. If you're keeping #ice-skating as a topic, I assume you're reinviting JJ just so he can brag when he keeps owning my ass on the ice?

flamestarium89: I invited JJ just because he makes #shitposting more interesting. Remember that comment he made about SilverShadow- maps?

CookieCat77: Oh lol, yeah.

CookieCat77: “Why does it seem that Silver's maps fuck me in the ass with 1x misses everytime I play them?”

flamestarium89: Never forget X'D

CookieCat77: Also, why is the #homolust channel gone? That channel was great.

flamestarium89: SHIT. I forgot it, Leo and Guang-Hong are gonna be pissed if I don't re-add it. Hold up, fam.

Yuri snorts and watches as Phichit edits the rules and re-adds the channel.

flamestarium89: #homolust – This channel is for fangirling/fanboying over your favorite people in the server, erotic role-playing and sharing of LGBT topics. This channel is a clusterfuck and should be considered NSFW for the most part. This is where Leo and Guang-Hong mostly shitpost so they're the admins of that channel.

Yuri snorts again reading the description. It seems Phichit reworded the description a bit cruder than it was in the older server.

CookieCat77: Nice description you got there.

flamestarium89: I might as well make it an honest description. That channel is all kinds of “wtf am I reading?”

CookieCat77: Wait, you said they're the admins of that channel. Are you adding the old admins back into the group?

flamestarium89: Of course, Seung-Il and Christophe should be accepting their invites. We really need Christophe otherwise who is going to keep the perverts in #nsfw under control?

CookieCat77: Good point. You're re-adding the “KSC” secret channel, right?

flamestarium89: -smirks- That channel is my baby, of course I'm re-adding it as well as all the members who were a part of it. Minami should be coming back for that channel, the little cinnamon roll <3.

Suddenly there's a notification for the entire server.

DiscordBot: Welcome @SilverShadow- ! Please introduce yourself and read the rules of the server!

CookieCat77: … Are you fucking kidding me? He's on his phone long enough to accept the invite?

Yuri notices a new message in #arrival from Viktor a couple minutes later.

SilverShadow- : Hi, I'm Viktor. I used to be in the top 50 players globally for osu! Standard but now I make shitmaps and meme with other players. I'm here to meme and shitpost. Also, !pervert.

flamestarium89: Welcome, lord of kicksliders :^) also, added you to #nsfw.

Yuri grits his teeth and tags Viktor in the #the-salt-room.

CookieCat77: @SilverShadow- WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU, YOU PIECE OF GARBAGE? WHY AREN'T YOU AT THE RINK YET???

SilverShadow-: I'm getting coffee. I don't have to be at the rink for another 15 minutes, you degenerate. I wouldn't be this tired if you hadn't decided streaming until 3am was a good idea.

CookieCat77: … Why were you watching my stream?

SilverShadow-: Katsudon went to bed and I wasn't ready to go to sleep.

SilverShadow-: I told you to not play osu! again and look what you've done, you little shit.

CookieCat77: If I wanna start playing a weeb circle-clicking game now that my wrist is better, that's my business. Not yours.

SilverShadow-: It is my business as your coach to make sure you're in good health for competitions. Also, Yakov will yell at me if I let one of my students sabotage themselves and I don't wanna get fired from my only source of income.

CookieCat77: You could quit osu! and competitive skate again :^).

SilverShadow-: Skating takes motivation and right now all my creative motivation is focused on osu!

CookieCat77: “Creative motivation” you say. Sounds like bullshit to me, you're just lazy.

SilverShadow-: -Shrugs- Whatever. You want me to get you coffee?

CookieCat77: Hm, sure.

Yuri notices Viktor highlight Phichit in #general.

SilverShadow-: @flamestarium89 May I be an admin? <3.

flamestarium89: No, unless one of the other admins quit. I only need 2 main admins.

SilverShadow-: I meant as a channel admin, not a global admin.

flamestarium89: Ooooh, okay. What channel? #homolust, #nsfw and #the-salt-room will be handled by the old admins but the rest of the channels could use some help.

CookieCat77: Don't you dare let him be an admin, Phichit. He lets any kind of power get to his head.

flamestarium89: Channel admins can't do shit except keep the channel on topic. Guang-Hong and Leo can't ban or silence people as channel admins. Viktor will be fine.

SilverShadow-: How about I manage #weeb-central, #ice-skating and #selfies? Those will be the channels I'll at least lurk in.

flamestarium89: Sure, if anyone fucks around in those channels I'll trust you to keep them on topic.

SilverShadow-: Yay <3.

CookieCat77: I'm surprised you don't wanna be admin for #bn-circlejerk :^).

SilverShadow-: I assume Chris is invited here, so I might be admin for it when my mapping circlejerk buddy is here :^).

There's a message in #the-salt-room from Phichit and Yuri almost loses his shit laughing after reading it.

flamestarium89: @SilverShadow- Maybe if you were actually a good mapper, you wouldn't have to practically suck Nyansome's dick to get a map ranked :)

SilverShadow-: -casually sips my coffee- You insult me as a mapper but should I even be mad? First, you don't have any ranked maps or guest difficulties. Second, you play CtB so you your opinion automatically doesn't mean shit. Third and final, I didn't get an elite mappers badge for nothing. I fucking won the Aspire mapping contest.

CookieCat77: The point is you're a good mapper when you CHOOSE to be. All this garbage you've mapped recently is all copy-paste, kickslider stream, jump spam bullshit. The only reason you're getting maps ranked is because Chris is desperate enough to rank your maps in exchange of you ranking his maps.

CookieCat77: You're the only BN that Chris cares to ask to rank his maps because you let him get away with bullshit mapping. You goddamn circlejerkers.

SilverShadow-: Lol, we're two birds of a feather, aren't we? Btw, on my way to the rink, see you there.

CookieCat77: Hurry the fuck up.

CookieCat77: @flamestarium89 I'll meme with you later, okay?

flamestarium89: No prob, fam. I need to go care for my hamsters anyway.

After reading and contributing to that entire exchange, Yuri yawns and puts his phone back into his pocket. As he waits for Viktor to show up, he contemplates two main topics: song possibilities for his skating routines and what he should do now that he's started playing osu! again.

  
Yuri has been continually earning bronze medals and maybe even silver if he's lucky. He's not happy about it in the slightest. He's continued skating even with an injured wrist, which most worsened at the previous OWC, and he's been continually losing since then.  
His wrist isn’t causing his failure. He's losing because he can't connect with the music. He can’t connect with the Agape piece that Viktor had choreographed for his short program on a personal level. So, he couldn't interpret what Viktor wanted him to portray on the ice. His free skate was closer to his specialties but somehow he still managed to fail to win any gold. It's quite frustrating for him. Also, his hobbies to help him relax are very time-consuming.

  
Balancing both skating and Twitch streaming has been a difficult task and is probably another reason why he's not doing well in competition. It's cutting into his practice time at the rink and affecting his sleep schedule, much to his coaches’ dismay. Both Yakov and Viktor have scolded him on his hobbies get in the way of skating.  
As much as it angers him, he knows his coaches are right. However, Viktor is a bit hypocritical since he abandoned his skating career to play a weeb game full-time and then quit it to beg Yakov for a coaching job. What a moron.

  
Speak of the devil, Yuri turns towards the sound of a door opening and sees Viktor with two large, brown, and plastic cups of coffee. Viktor looks restless, not quite exhausted but not to the point of being only sleepy.

 

With a smirk, Viktor calls out, “Good morning, Yuri.”

 

“Good morning, Viktor...” He replies in a low tone, skating to the rink wall.

 

Viktor glances around before asking, “Is Yakov here yet?”

  
“No, I used the key you gave me a while ago.” Yuri says shaking his head.

  
“Good,” Viktor says, relieved as he offers a cup to him, “Yakov will slaughter me if he knows I'm letting you have coffee while you're still on the ice.”

  
Yuri rolls his eyes and takes the cup. He sips it to discover it's a caramel mocha. With a smile, he takes a larger gulp.

  
“I know you can't stand coffee unless it's drowned in sugar, wimp.” Viktor mocks, “Real men drink it black.”

  
Yuri banters back, “Real men don't give fucks about another's preference for coffee.”

  
Viktor presses further, “Real men listen to their coaches when they tell them not to play goddamn video games until three in the morning when they have practice at eight.”

  
Yuri grits his teeth and glares at his part-time coach before adding, “Excuse me? There have been at least three separate occasions where you've shown up to practice hungover and four other times you've shown up late because you got distracted talking to KatsudonCuck. You have no grounds to criticize me.”

  
The look Yuri receives an absolutely offended one that softens as Viktor states, “Well, you do have a point for the times I showed up hungover.” Viktor continues with a smirk, “Although, talking to Yuuri is more interesting than coaching most of the time. So, fuck you.”

  
Yuri winces a bit, midway through a sip. Right, he shares the same name with his online rival. As if mentioning Katsudon is the trigger for it, the two stand in silence until they finish up their coffees.

  
After the final swallow, Yuri asks, “... You have any idea what songs I should use for my short program and freeskate?”

  
“No idea,” Viktor replies and follows up with, “You have any idea of what song I should use to teach Yuuri about mapping?”

  
“Try a Team Grimoire song.” Yuri answers quickly.

  
Viktor shakes his head and argues, “No, that artist's music is a bit too chaotic for a beginner. How about 'Snow halation'?”

  
Yuri almost gags as he replies, “Hell no, don't force Love Live songs on him. Katsudon already thinks you're a weeb enough as it is.”

  
With a disappointed look, he reluctantly agrees, “Yeah, that wouldn't be a good idea...”

  
After a few seconds of contemplation, Yuri offers another answer, “Katsudon likes Camellia, how about one of their songs?”

  
Again, Viktor shakes his head, “Again, too complex for a beginner to map. Camellia songs are fun to listen to but mapping them is hell.”

  
Yuri can't argue with that. As he's considering ideas for Viktor's problem, he already finds out what song he wants to do for his short program and the theme he wants to go with.

  
Enthused, Yuri makes sure he has Viktor's attention, “Hey, speaking of songs, what if I made my theme this season around the 'Passage of Time'?”

  
Viktor grabs his chin, intrigued as he asks, “What song made you come up with that theme?”

  
Yuri shows instead of tells as he goes on his phone and finds the song on Youtube. He shoves his phone towards Viktor and Viktor sees the song title.

  
“... 'Utopiosphere'? It's not like you to pick songs with gentle vocalists, such as Mili.” Viktor mildly questions, “Also, how does this play to the theme of the 'Passage of Time'?”

  
“Are you an idiot? It's directly mentioned in the lyrics. 'Tick tock, time doesn't stop'?” Yuri recites the lyrics to Viktor, trying to jog his memory, “Come on. Chris mapped a set of this song and you had a fucking GD on that set.”

  
It takes Viktor a moment to remember but confirms, “Oh yeah, I did. That's a pretty song even if it isn't something I'd map myself. That would be a good choice for your short program.”

  
“Glad you think so...” Yuri smirks as he teases, “Hey, how about you choose some sappy love song for you two to map together? Like, 'marry me?' by Duca or 'CRYSTALLINE' by Ito Kanako. Maybe his ass isn't dense and he'll take a hint.”

  
Not surprisingly, Viktor gives Yuri that signature smile that means he's restraining himself from metaphorically killing Yuri and comments, “I think not. Thanks for the suggestions but if I'm going to map a love song with him it's not going to be some stupid shit from a visual novel.”

  
“You could just tell him you like him instead of letting yourself keep pinning.” Yuri adds, bluntly.

  
Viktor scrunches his face and responds frustratedly, “It's not that simple! I... I don't know exactly how I want to go about it.”

  
Yuri sighs and finishes with, “Look, I guess you have to take your time with this crush bullshit but how would I know? I doubt Katsudon would outright reject you but it's your call when you wanna tell him you wanna be with him. I still don't get how you fell for him just because he voice-called you on Discord drunk a few months ago.”

  
With an eyeroll, Viktor orders, “Get out on the ice and do your warm ups! I'm done with this conversation and Yakov will scold us both if he catches us messing around.”

  
Yuri doesn't argue and skates away from the rink wall. While he skates in circles and loosens up his leg muscles, he occasionally glances to see what Viktor is doing and is not surprised to see the man with his phone out. The smile on his coach's face is enough to give away what's doing on his phone.

…

Three hours later, Yuri has now returned home from an exhausting coaching session. He's laying on his bed with his cat resting on his legs as he checks his phone. He catches up on what he missed in the Discord server during practice. This first place he checks is the #arrival channel to see who all accepted the invites.

GoToChurch: Ayy, I'm Leo. I was in the old server. I play standard and mania with bae sometimes. I'm here because Guang-Hong is gonna be here and the old server was where we RP'd all the time. Just approve me already, Phichit.

flamestarium89: Welcome back, Leo :P

-Infernium: I'm Guang-Hong owo, I play mania and I'm in the top 20 players for China. I'm here to RP with bae and hang out. Pls approve me, Phichit.

flamestarium89: Welcome back! Have fun with Leo in #homolust

nightwalk: I am Otabek. CTB player and BN. Apparently Yuri is here, so I'm here to meme with him and also beg for mods on my maps. !pervert because why not?

flamestarium89: Welcome. Feel free to chat with anyone here or lurk. I'll add you to #nsfw in a minute

Nyansome: <3 Christophe here. Standard BN and one of the top 5 Swiss players for STD. I map and was server admin in the old server to make sure the degenerates stop posting lolicon in the #nsfw channel. I see you added Viktor, Phichit. Invite Ascendance and we'll have a bonafide BN circle-jerk. !pervert

flamestarium89: FINALLY, we have our first admin to return. You keep forgetting that Ascendance isn't a BN anymore but I'll invite him. Welcome back.

DiscordBot: @Nyansome has been promoted to admin!

Nyansome: Oh nice, we have a channel bot to use now.

flamestarium89: I programmed it myself <3 Right now all it does is announcements. Can you help me program it so I can get it to do an Ao3 fanfic feed for one of the secret channels?

Nyansome: I'll get to it straight away. I assume it's for the “KSC” channel.

flamestarium89: Yeah, it is. Thank you <3

MajesticToucan: I'm from the old server. You know who I am. Taiko player and I'm only here to serve as admin and keep the peace.

flamestarium89: You should introduce yourself better, Seung-Il. Welcome back.

DiscordBot: @MajesticToucan has been promoted to admin!

MajesticToucan: I'll handle greeting people here if you want.

flamestarium89: Sure, make sure everyone feels welcome and add them to the appropriate channels if they were in the old server.

-katsudonkouhai: Hi! I'm Minami Kenjiro and I was in the old server >w< I'm here for the “KSC” channel and to socialize. I'm in the top 100 players for Japan and was KatsudonPrince's substitute during the OWC last year <3

MajesticToucan: Welcome back, Minami. Since it seems all the old members of the “KSC” channel have returned, I'm going to create the channel and add everyone. Is that okay, @flamestarium89?

flamestarium89: Go ahead!

That's all that's in #arrival. Yuri checks and, sure enough, the “KSC” channel has been added and he has been highlighted in it since he's been away at practice. He reads the chat logs of the “KSC” channel, also known as #katsudon-shadow-central.

MajesticToucan: Welcome back @flamestarium89 @CookieCat77 @GoToChurch @-Infernium @Nyansome and @-katsudonkouhai

MajesticToucan: This channel is “KatsudonShadow Central”, a place for the shippers can discuss and share information about the progress of the relationship of SilverShadow- and KatsudonPrince. This is a secret channel and members must be invited. Any referencing of this channel outside of the channel must be with permission or brief without exposing this channel to the subjects of it (Basically, if you tell Katsudon and Silver this channel exists you will be kicked out and shunned for ruining the shipping fun). Phichit is the actual leader of this server, my job is just to make sure you guys don't fight and be civil. Phichit has a Google Doc with all known information about their relationship documented for members.

 

flamestarium89 has pinned messages to this channel -

 

flamestarium89: I just pinned Toucan's message and the Google Doc so everyone can access it at anytime. If there's anyone I should add here, let me know.

Nyansome: Ayyyy, we're back in business.

-katsudonkouhai: Yay! Ao3 fanfic feed when?

Nyansome: Soooooon. I'm working on it right now. We'll have the chat bot giving us updates on KatsudonShadow fics posted to Ao3.

GoToChurch: How about we add a KatsudonShadow subreddit feed too? There's more fanfiction posted there and we'd get to see the shipping memes as well.

-Infernium: Don't forget the #katsudonprince and #silverprince tags on Tumblr.

Nyansome: Um, I can program the subreddit feed but Tumblr is a bit complicated for me to incorporate. Also, I hate Tumblr. Viktor ruined Tumblr for me.

MajesticToucan: I hate Tumblr, too. Fuck Tumblr.

flamestarium89: On the original topic, we have a fanfic/meme feed planned and everyone is back so far.

-katsudonkouhai: @flamestarium89 about the Google Doc, you forgot to add that Yuuri-kun returned to osu! a week ago. Doesn't that mean him and Silver are gonna be talking even more???

flamestarium89: You're right! Now that Yuuri's back, they'll be able to talk more.

Yuri adds to the conversation now he's read everything.

CookieCat77: Phichit, they've been talking in Discord ever since Katsudon rage-quit a year ago. The only difference it means is we might get to see them 'flirt' in the chat channels in-game if we're lucky. Btw, I found out today that Viktor is planning on teaching Katsudon how to map.

Nyansome: Oh god, I feel sorry that Katsudon's mapping teacher is shit at mapping.

CookieCat77: You don't HAVE to rank Viktor's shitmaps, ffs Chris.

MajesticToucan: Both of you, keep salty commentary to #the-salt-room unless it has something to do with the channel topic.

flamestarium89: WAIT, VIKTOR IS TEACHING YUURI HOW TO MAP????

flamestarium89: THIS IS LIKE STRAIGHT OUT OF A FANFICTION, HOLY SHIT.

GoToChurch: I know which one, too. I think it was called “Teach Me”

flamestarium89: Yeah, that one. That one was good. Cookie, did you find anything else?

CookieCat77: Yeah. Apparently, Viktor is still nervous to tell Katsudon he likes him. Like, come on. It's been months since the 'drunk Discord incident' and I doubt Katsudon would reject him.

Nyansome: You have to remember that Katsudon has this image of himself of being 'shy and reserved' and I wouldn't doubt he'd say no at this point because I don't think he is aware he has feelings for Viktor.

flamestarium89: I still talk to Yuuri sometimes and I think the pining is mutual between the two of them. Everytime we talk, he always tells me at least one thing Viktor talked about with him or will talk about a map Viktor made he really enjoys.

flamestarium89: Yuuri doesn't realize he's fallen for him but there's nothing we can really do to help them along ;-; this is gonna rely on their choices.

CookieCat77: What I can't believe is that Viktor hasn't seen a picture of Katsudon and he still loves him.

Nyansome: ^ FUCKING SAME

flamestarium89: I wanna see a pic of Viktor now he's cut his hair.

CookieCat77: Spoiler alert. Viktor looks like a fucking dork with short hair.

-Infernium: I have an idea. Invite Katsudon back into the server!

-Infernium: Silver is here, so he can't say no, right?

flamestarium89: Idk... Yuuri left the old server shortly after quitting so he may not wanna join us again ;-;

-katsudonkouhai: But what if Yuuri-kun agrees???? Then maybe he'll post a selfie and Silver will get to see a pic of him!

Nyansome: That... is actually a good idea.

CookieCat77: I'm actually curious what Katsudon looks like. Even when Katsudon did Twitch streaming, he never really showed his face. We always caught a glimpse when he pulled away to eat pork cutlet bowls but never really seen his whole face.

flamestarium89: I'm gonna send Yuuri an invite and ask him if he wants to join. I really like the ideas you guys have and I miss Yuuri ;-;

Nyansome: Please make this a thing. I want to see Viktor's reaction when he sees the face of the man he fell in love with because of his voice. PLEASE.

GoToChurch: ^Same

-Infernium: ^Same

-katsudonkouhai: ^SAAAMMMEEEEE

MajesticToucan: Ngl, I'm mildly interested now.

CookieCat77: I'm following this shit as long as Viktor keeps drunk messaging me how much he thinks Katsudon is 'kawaii as fuck'. I'm in for the long run on how this drama plays out.

Nyansome: Cookie, please refrain from weeb talk. I know you're quoting Viktor but good lord I hear enough of it from him in chat.

MajesticToucan: New rule, weeaboo speech is now banned outside of #shitposting and #weeb-central in Nyansome's presence.

-katsudonkouhai: ^Best new rule to be added to this server.

Nyansome: Brb, gonna tell Viktor this new rule because his weeb ass needs to know.

Yuri figures the conversation seems to be calming down in the channel and decides to briefly check the other channels. The only thing that interests him is a screenshot and comment posted by Otabek in #show-off-your-scores, a brief conversation in #general between Christophe and Viktor and then the new person in #arrival that gives him reason to respond again.

#show-off-your-scores:

nightwalk: *Screenshot of a 24x miss play on CtB set of 'Tatsh – IMAGE -MATERIAL- [Envision]' *

nightwalk: One day, I'll FC this map. It took 68 retries just to pass this map and not fail. Good to know I can pass a 9.61 star map if I try hard enough.

flamestarium89: If you can FC Image Material, I will seriously buy you three months of osu!supporter.

nightwalk: I'll take note. Be ready to pay up when I FC.

 

#general:

Nyansome: @SilverShadow- The new rule in the server is weeb talk is not allowed outside of #shitposting and #weeb-central

SilverShadow-: Fuck my life, Imma get banned quick then.

#arrival:

ascendance: Hi, I'm Ascendance, elite mapper, enemy of the state, circlejerk extraordinaire, ex-nominator, and ex-giver-of-fucks

ascendance: oh yeah, and I'm here for the free mods

MajesticToucan: Please state your prefered gamemodes and I'll approve you, fam.

ascendance: CtB/Standard

MajesticToucan: Approved, enjoy your stay.

#general:

CookieCat77: Oh look, Chris and Viktor's circlejerk buddy is here.

Nyansome: Ascendance <3 my baby is here.

SilverShadow-: Our circlejerk is complete now, we even have incentive for him to stay in the sever too.

ascendance: incentive? I do have a few maps that need some icons, I guess

nightwalk: If you're referring to me, I'm not iconing maps right now.

ascendance: But you just iconned something last night?

nightwalk: Fuck, ur right. You caught me.

CookieCat77: You can't hide from Ascendance's nose for bubbles, Otabek. He thirsty for bubbles.

CookieCat77: I think I'm gonna go switch to my computer, mobile is shit and I'm ready to play some shitmaps.

SilverShadow-: You better not be playing shitmaps.

CookieCat77: Right, I won't be playing Silver's maps so I can keep that promise :)

ascendance: Just play all my maps instead :D

CookieCat77: Will do, fam. I need to practice.

SilverShadow-: As your skating coach, I'm disappointed in you.

Yuri takes a break from his phone to switch to his desktop, getting up from his bed and making his way to his setup. He starts up his computer and monitor, hooking his tablet into the USB. His cat meows loudly to be allowed in his lap and he caves as the creature jumps back onto the space it inhabited before he got up from his bed. Yuri can't force his cat to stay off his lap and it's better than having his cat jump in front of his monitor when he's about to FC a map.  
Yuri opens Discord and continues to lurk in the previous conversation. It seems the conversation is getting scattered now that it seems Phichit has added Ascendance to the KSC channel for some reason.

#katsudon-shadow-central:

MajesticToucan: @flamestarium89 why the fuck did you add @ascendance to this channel?

flamestarium89: He ships our OTP too, let him be.

ascendance: I think a better question would be why wouldn't you add me to a channel

Nyansome: Ascendance, dear, not everyone in this server likes you but I'm glad you're here. I need someone to help me corral Silver's weebness/spy on him.

-katsudonkouhai: OMG IT'S ASCENDANCE ILY

ascendance: I love me too :D

CookieCat77: @ascendance please fuck me

flamestarium89: Stop trying to get our new friend in jail, you two.

ascendance: yeah, I already had experiences with jailbait, no more

MajesticToucan: Please stay on topic, you cucks. Talk about shipping or move chat into another channel.

flamestarium89: Fine fine fine, chill. Ascendance, do you talk to KatsudonPrince at all? I know you talk to Silver because he's a mod begger.

ascendance: The only reason I really know him though is cause he farms my maps and Silver won't shut up about him.

Nyansome: LOL, glad to know I'm not the only one he spams about Katsudon.

flamestarium89: Well, if you learn any juicy info about their relationship development, you'll tell us right?

ascendance: of course of course, I'm always an open book :^)

flamestarium89: Yay <3 Brb, gonna do some PP farming.

With that, Yuri finally gets bored reading Discord messages and goes back to actually playing osu!. However, he does notice that KatsudonPrince and SilverShadow- are online in his list of online friends... and it says 'editing' as their activity and it's for the same beatmap...

…

Yuuri has been distracting himself by cleaning for his mother most of the day. It's the only thing that keeps him from getting bored and constantly checking his Discord for messages from Viktor. Earlier, Viktor messaged him during a coaching session, but all that happened was Viktor showing him things he liked on Tumblr and Yuuri telling him he needs to get back to work before he gets in trouble with his boss.

  
It's now late afternoon and Yuuri has finished cleaning, so he goes back to his room and sets up his laptop as he did the day before. This time he finds his tablet and pen faster than he did before and gets osu! started up quickly.

  
Yuuri leaves a message for Viktor in the in-game chat, but it seems he's away from his keyboard. Yuuri really hopes Viktor isn't day-drinking since Viktor planned on teaching him the basics of mapping today.

  
Regardless, why not pass the time with some PP farming until Viktor comes back? Yuuri searches through his beatmaps by star rating. He goes through the mods list and checks Hard Rock before he searching for beatmaps between 5.8 and 6 stars to play as warm-up before he plays anything strenuous like a stream map or jump spam map.  
Yuuri has a bit of struggle choosing but settles on 'WEAVER – Kuchizuke Diamond' as a good warm-up for his fingers. Upon inspection of his friend's rankings for the 'Lemur' difficulty, it seems Nyansome is now in second place with a Hard Rock, Hidden FC on the map, third place IamtheKING's (JJ's) 3x miss on Doubletime, beating CookieCat's almost Hard Rock FC at fourth place, and Viktor's Doubletime FC from over a year ago is still in first place.

  
Yuuri clicks on the beatmap to start it, wiggling his cursor around with his tablet pen and does a few rapid clicks on the 'Z' and 'X' keys to make sure the buttons are working. When the song starts, the first two kicksliders almost throw him off because he forgets that this map likes to use 1 /4 th rhythm streams. He manages to get through them, and the map gets pretty easy until the chorus. At the chorus, Yuuri remembers why he hates this map and why CookieCat loves it.

  
Yuuri forgot about the jump spam throughout the chorus. Yuuri starts misjudging distances and he misses one note in the last set of cross-screen jumps. The score screen appears and Yuuri has to take a deep sigh to calm the saltiness he can feel. How lovely, he can FC Viktor's cross-screen kicksliders a week ago and now he's shitmissing cross-screen notes on a warm-up map? Maybe it's just because the map is a different style from what he's been playing. That must be it.

  
To test his theory, Yuuri searches for SilverShadow- maps in his Hard Rock PP farming collection that are between 5.8 and 6 stars. The first one he finds is 'Halozy – K.O.K.O.R.O.' and the difficulty is named 'SilverSome's Extra'. Okay, maybe not the best map to test his theory since it's a collab map with Nyansome but it's the only one he has within the star rating limit he's set for himself.

  
The first object is a spinner. Then, it quickly transitions into easy-to-read fast sliders and notes. Ah, so Nyansome must have mapped this part. He likes his mapping to seem deceptively easy when he actually speeds up the slider velocity more than most mappers.

  
The mapping style changes around the time that the bass beats get heavier and more one fourth rhythms appear. This is Viktor's mapping: slower sliders but more sharper rhythms and kicksliders. Now the mapping feels familiar. The jumps are easy for Yuuri to land, even as sliders become intimidatingly spaced and abundant.  
Suddenly, Viktor's kicksliders disappear, and it's normal streams and slightly faster sliders again. The change is sudden enough that Yuuri misses the first few notes of the stream and almost instant fails the map. He's barely able to hold on and sight read the deceptively overlapped sliders that Nyansome mapped before the chorus. Okay, now Yuuri remembers why he dislikes Nyansome's mapping when he's PP farming.

  
Yuuri finally fails the map when Viktor alternates between bullshit cross-screen jumps and kickslider streams. The fail sound seems to mock him as his fail screen of an anime character face-palming appears. As much as failing the map should irritate him, he reminds himself that he hasn't played this map in awhile and doesn't need to sink to CookieCat levels of rage-quitting over failing the map one time.

  
He restarts the map with the knowledge of what to expect. At a quick glance he can see he's gained some spectators. So far it seems -katsudonkouhai, SilverShadow- and IamtheKING are watching. Great, so he has an audience to watch him fail.

  
This time goes a bit better, at least this time he doesn't crumble during the chorus as he did before but instead fails miserably during the spaced streams towards the end where Nyansome mapped. This time, he buries his face in his hands and groans. He stops the action relatively quickly because the frames of his glasses push uncomfortably against his forehead and his tablet pen is stabbing his cheek.

  
Against his better judgement, he checks #spectator chat.

-katsudonkouhai: ;-; so close, hard map.

IamtheKING: Rest in pieces, HR on this map is garbage.

-katsudonkouhai: 0/10 would never HR farm again.

SilverShadow-: Ngl, Nyansome's mapping doesn't mesh well with mine. This should have never gotten ranked.

IamtheKING: Just like all your maps? :^)

SilverShadow-: stfu you canadian bacon trash

-katsudonkouhai: Get roasted

Yuuri decides to end the fun and comments.

KatsudonPrince: Victor, are you gonna teach me to map or not?

SilverShadow-: I am, lemme finish roasting JJ.

KatsudonPrince: Let the Canadian be. He feeds off attention anyway.

IamtheKING: :P

-katsudonkouhai: Yo King, play me in multi.

IamtheKING: Ya sure, I get to pick the maps though.

With that, JJ and Minami leave to go play a few rounds of multiplayer. Yuuri suspects Minami will win most of the rounds since he's a more consistent player than JJ.  
Once he exits the beatmap, Yuuri receives a private message from Viktor and they converse.

SilverShadow-: Sorry it took me so long, I was eating.

KatsudonPrince: Pls tell me you aren't drinking.

SilverShadow-: I'm not. I need to be sober to be able to explain shit right.

KatsudonPrince: Thank goodness. Will it help if you teach me in Russian?

SilverShadow-: I can do it in English, don't worry. If I tried doing it in Japanese, I'd fail pretty bad though.

KatsudonPrince: Lol

KatsudonPrince: So, how are we gonna do this?

SilverShadow-: We're gonna do the Ascendance method of teaching.

SilverShadow-: First off, besides me, who are your favorite mappers?

Yuuri pauses to think over that question. Considering that he's played almost nothing but Viktor's maps the past year while he's been on break, he needs to go back through his most played beatmaps. With a couple minutes to looks through all his downloaded beatmaps, he answers the question.

KatsudonPrince: pishifat and Blue Dragon

SilverShadow-: Really? Those two are like the exact opposites of mapping style and of my style though. Explain.

KatsudonPrince: I mostly like them because they don't spam map anime songs :P but I like pishi's maps because they play really cleanly and logically to the music.

KatsudonPrince: Blue Dragon also makes maps that are fun to play because they're challenging. The day I FC a Blue Dragon hell map is the day you know my account must be hacked :^)

SilverShadow-: Lol, I see. I like pishi's maps too.

SilverShadow-: As much as I like Blue Dragon's maps, I still fucking hate that I can't FC The Big Black. I can FC Airman no problem tho.

KatsudonPrince: Airman is easy as fuck to FC. Even I can FC that on a good day. Easy PP.

KatsudonPrince: So, now what?

SilverShadow-: Oh yeah, I asked because as I'm teaching you the basics of mapping I want you to consider what you like about their mapping that you would like to incorporate into your own style.

SilverShadow-: That's for when we start learning how to map Insanes and Extras though :)

SilverShadow-: For now, I want you to find me your favorite song on Youtube or something and I'll time it so I can start teaching you.

KatsudonPrince: Will do.

What should Yuuri map? His interests in music are quite different than Viktor's. Yuuri likes songs from other rhythm games or songs from action and horror anime. Viktor likes to map songs from cute and slice of life anime but will map other types of songs if he didn't like how another mapper mapped or if it's a guest difficulty.  
One thing is for certain, Yuuri refuses to map a Love Live! song just because Viktor likes it.  
Yuuri looks through his favorite songs and smirks as he offers his first suggestion.

KatsudonPrince: How about Dat Boi!!!! :^)

SilverShadow-: … As much as I'm tempted to map that with you, I'm not ready to sink down to the level of meme mapper, let alone map a dead meme.

Of course, that one's a 'no' from Viktor but he couldn't help but ask. Instead, he offers a song that actually is one of his favorites. It's an opening song to one of his favorite eroge visual novels that he recalls reading/translating to Phichit over Discord voice chat during the Summer. Just hearing the preview to the song gives him nostalgia. It should for Viktor as well since Yuuri bought him a copy to play.

KatsudonPrince: Okay, then let's map “Duca – be confidence”

SilverShadow-: Ooooh, good choice. I didn't like how Xexxar mapped it though :/ We'll make a better set together <3

KatsudonPrince: I'm willing to give it a shot, make a template for us to work with.

It takes about five minutes for Viktor to get a good MP3 track of the song, steals the hitsounds Xexxar used and finds a osu! appropriate background image for the map. When he gets the template set up, Yuuri gets the link to the osu! page.

SilverShadow-: -posts link to a submissions page for the new beatmap-

KatsudonPrince: Whhhyyy, why did you post the template to the website instead of just sending the download link through puush?

SilverShadow-: It's easier for me to get direct updates this way. Also when you finish mapping Easy and Normal, I'll just map Hard and Insane myself and have Nyansome speed rank it :^)

KatsudonPrince: … You have to be shitting me.

SilverShadow-: What?

KatsudonPrince: You must have a lot of confidence my first maps won't be complete shit.

SilverShadow-: Oh no, I know your first drafts won't be perfect but that's why you have me, right? I'm here to teach you so you make maps close to perfect the first time you try <3

 

KatsudonPrince: … I see why most of the mapping community hates you even more now.

SilverShadow-: Because I'm insufferable trash? Don't worry, many have told me that before.

SilverShadow-: Now, open up the template in the editor and I'll show you how to everything works.

With that, Yuuri opens up the template and Victor teaches him the basics of the editor.

…

An hour and a half has passed, Yuuri feels drained after soaking in all the information Victor just gave him. They covered how to place notes and sliders, how to adjust approach rate and circle cize and how to add volume changes/slider velocity shifts using the timing panel. In addition, Yuuri mapped the first twenty seconds of song while Victor explained how to map Easy difficulties in a way that is simple but follows the rhythm of the song.  
Yuuri sends the progress he made in an .osu text file using 'puush' and waits as Viktor applies the changes. It isn't long before he receives a message back from Viktor with criticism.

SilverShadow-: Um, at 00:16:682 (2,3) – you should blanket these sliders so they looks a little nicer while playing.

KatsudonPrince: Blanket?

SilverShadow-: Like, make them flow alongside each other without overlapping them. It'll be aesthetically pleasing as well as flow the sliders better..

KatsudonPrince: Oh yeah, ur right. Lemme fix it, fam.

SilverShadow-: Also at 00:18:528 (4,5) – Don't stack notes in Easy diffs. It'll confuse new players. You don't stack notes until Normal diffs when players can expect a bit more complicated patterns.

KatsudonPrince: It looks weird as a straight line of notes though.

SilverShadow-: That's because you've been playing Insanes and Extras where a jump would be mapped there.

SilverShadow-: Since you can't map jumps in Easy diffs, just map a straight line to the next slider and it'll be fine for the player.

KatsudonPrince: Okay fine, I fixed.

SilverShadow-: So far, looks good <3 Just keep your patterns consistent and make sure you have at least 1 bar of rhythm spacing before the spinner at the end.

KatsudonPrince: Is our lesson done for the day? It's getting late and I'm hungry.

SilverShadow-: yeah yeah yeah, we're done. Your homework is to finish the Easy diff by next week and then I'll teach you more about 'aesthetic and style' next lesson.

KatsudonPrince: Are you sure I can do it fine on my own?

SilverShadow-: Even if you did terribly, I'd still help you get better. Just give it a shot.

KatsudonPrince: Alright, I'm gonna get off now.

SilverShadow-: Night <3 now I can resume with my evening of shitmapping.

KatsudonPrince: … Stop mapping while drunk.

\- This user is currently offline -

SilverShadow-: Never <3

SilverShadow-: Wtf? YOU LOGGED OFF BEFORE YOU GOT MY MESSAGE. FUCK.

SilverShadow-: I'm gonna drink now ;-; I miss you already.

Of course, Yuuri doesn't see the three messages Victor left after he logged off. Yuuri checks Discord on his phone and sees a message from Phichit. He opens the message and reads.

flamestarium89: Hey Yuuri! I made a new Discord server and I'm wondering if you wanna join? I know you left the old server because you quit osu! but I'm wondering if you wanna come back now you're playing again. Silver is already here too. - insert invite link here-

After a moment of thinking it over, Yuuri decides 'why not?' and presses the invite link. He quickly posts in the #arrival channel and then gets off his phone to see if his mother needs any help with dinner.

KatsudonPrince: I'm back, it's Yuuri. I was in the old server a year ago and suck at playing osu! Standard and I have no idea why I'm here. !pervert

Nyansome: “I have no idea why I'm here” At least you're honest and didn't just say you're here for memes. Welcome back.

…

Elsewhere and an hour later, Ascendance is finishing up some GDs he owes to some other mappers. It's extremely early in the morning and he should be sleeping. However by some odd chance, Ascendance is determined to finish his projects... or that was going to be the plan until he receives a series of messages from a fellow mapper.

SilverShadow-: hi

SilverShadow-: what u doing?

Ascendance: suffering

SilverShadow-: Same, Katsudon offline and I wanna die

Ascendance: Looks like we're in the same boat.

SilverShadow-: I wanna cry too

SilverShadow-: I tried teaching him mapping today and I hope he does well with homework

SilverShadow-: how to type when drunk

Is Viktor serious? Even Ascendance doesn't consider himself that cruel to his mapping students. If anything, his students assign mapping homework to themselves and then just show him their progress.  
However, drunk Viktor is not an uncommon occurrence but an entertaining one for Ascendance's currently sleep-deprived brain.

Ascendance: geez i thought school homework was bad, i dont know if i could deal with mapping homework

Ascendance: mapping on my own is bad enough :( you're making him suffer

SilverShadow-: I just want someone to map me free GDs but I love him too

SilverShadow-: This is a dilemma ;-;

Ascendance: seems like a worthwhile trade off

SilverShadow-: ye true...

SilverShadow-: I think I drank too much

Ascendance: and you didn't share :(

SilverShadow-: Whoopsies <3 *pours you a glass*

Ascendance: that's more like it

Ascendance: now i can finally drink away my sorrows while mapping

SilverShadow-: rip, I should be working on GDs but I can barely get the editor open and focus

SilverShadow-: I'll tell you a secret <3

A secret? Drunk Viktor confessions are always fun even if they're unasked for and often regret-filled the next day.

Ascendance: what is it :0

SilverShadow-: I wanna confess to Katsudon with a beatmap but I can't find the perfect song to map ;-;

Ascendance: hm

Ascendance: you could always go on the weeb side and there's plenty of songs to choose from

SilverShadow-: truueeee, I should go do that. Good luck on your maps

Ascendance: good luck on your quest for romance

SilverShadow-: I'll try fam. Talk later <3

This seems to be when Viktor has fucked off to do other stuff, like to find a song to map or whatever. Ascendance looks at his map in the editor and realizes he despises the past ten seconds of the map.

  
In light of his frustration and lethargy, he recalls the words of Flame asking him to report any 'juicy' information to the shipping channel. That drunk confession is certainly 'juicy' for the shippers, but morally it wouldn't be right to share a drunk secret.  
Actually, it would be more interesting if he kept Viktor's secret. Ascendance knows information that the shipping channel doesn't know. The information would be very valuable to them, but risks interference from them in the progress the two will make on their own naturally. In addition, keeping the secret is a chance to earn Viktor's trust and get him to bubble Ascendance's map.

  
Yeah, keep a secret exchange for bubbles- no, maybe Ascendance needs sleep before coming to any diabolical conclusions. He saves his mapping progress and exits osu! so he can go to bed. It's been a long night, and sleep sounds fantastic.


End file.
